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Michael Gove is to pledge to give 3 million EU citizens UK citizenship. That's such a bold idea it's hard to know instantly whether it's good, so-so, or terrible (what does it do to pensions/NHS?) I'm sure the nationality experts will weigh in soon enough.
theguardian.com/politics/2019/…
theguardian.com/politics/2019/…
"Gove’s pledge, which he will announce on Tuesday, will offer British citizenship to those who wish to take it up, without cost, if EU citizens were present in the UK before the referendum" Retroactivity sounds messy, because there was no requirement for EU citizens to register.
Another take on the story. It's going to be announced tomorrow so presumably the fine detail will come out then...
Certainly distinguishes him from Sajid Javid, who always seems so gung ho about stripping British citizens of citizenship.
Important: I am not taking *anything* away from EU citizens' entitlement to pensions, NHS access etc. I just pointed out that I don't know off the cuff whether anything changes if you become a UK citizen too (those were just a couple of examples I thought others might comment on)
Added: please don't take my initial post for something it's not. I fully respect every single right of EU citizens. I am not suggesting there are two classes of citizens, UK and other. I am trying to understand the *legal differences* (if any) that would come from UK citizenship.
I don't know enough about the subject, which is why I threw out a couple of examples. Not because I thought EU citizens should get different pensions or NHS treatment. Heck no! But because I *didn't know* if those are the sorts of things that *might* change or not. Hence the Q.
But since there has been some hostility to my opening post, I felt it's important to clarify. But with the limited characters Twitter offers to make a point, it's all too easy to be misunderstood. Hopefully clear now! You will be hard-pressed to find a more pro-EU person than me.
